A motorist accused of running over and fatally injuring a 14-year-old boy in Moreno Valley was charged Thursday with hit-and-run resulting in death and a sentence-enhancing allegation of fleeing the scene of an accident.
Eleazar Arevalo Garcia, 33, was arrested Monday following a two-day Riverside County Sheriff’s Department investigation. Four hours after Garcia was taken into custody and booked into the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside, Darion Coleman, the victim, died at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital, where he had been on life support for two days.
Garcia pleaded not guilty during an arraignment before Superior Court Judge Eric Keen, who scheduled a felony settlement conference for Feb. 28 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.
Garcia is being held in lieu of $75,000 bail.
According to sheriff’s Sgt. Brian De Marco, Garcia was identified as the perpetrator after detectives determined that his 2000 Cadillac Escalade was likely the vehicle that hit Darion.
De Marco said that pieces of the car were left behind in the roadway, and that evidence, as well as other clues, culminated in detectives detaining and ultimately arresting Garcia at about 6:15 p.m. Monday.
Darion was walking in the 22600 block of Cottonwood Avenue, near Ellsworth Street, about 6:30 p.m. Saturday when he was struck.
De Marco said the teenager suffered major head trauma, and the driver sped away.
A search warrant was served at a property in the 13400 block of Moreno Way, where the Cadillac was found to have front-end damage allegedly connected to the hit-and-run. The vehicle was seized, according to De Marco.
Garcia has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.
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